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The Lichway, The Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil
The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Twenty. Long after midnight. Thursday, December 1st, 576 CY







Telkis' morningstar, Cranach beats back the cold dead hands that claw and scratch for the gnome's eternal soul!

DOOOOOM! And then Mouser is struck by a dreadful realization.

Nearby, Rudolf slices open the spider's abdomen in search of treasure. He accidentally cuts into the gigantic horror's venom sack, splashing vile toxins onto his bare skin! (Save vs Poison, at +2 to your die roll, to act)

Unseen by eyes mortal and immortal, Urdur races to the innocent child atop the sacrificial altar! Walls of skulls loom above them!



Meanwhile, Ingrid crashes her mystical hammer into one of the living carrion! (X3) Long Bo joins the attack and loses his balance, leaving himself wide open for a deadly counterattack! Cold bone hands clamp onto his face and drain away the druid's life energy! (7hp damage and -7 to Strength!) Before the heinous terror can kill him, Brevos lunges in and hacks its ribcage asunder! It crashes to the floor in a shatter of bones!

Swordless, Jerome of the Mighty Oak strikes his cudgel in a glancing blow off an eerie fleshless skull (X1)!

Suddenly, young Amity Mantle rises up off the altar! She hovers just above the ground, flying through the lichway! Urdur's disembodied voice cries, "I've got her, let's get outta here!!"

DOOOOOM! Urdur passes Mouser who has made a terrible discovery. The ominous thundering is emanating from the stone slabs that line the vast towering walls of the lichway, each etched with occult designs of profane geometry.




DOOOOOM! Mouser realizes the booming is coming from behind the slabs. All of them.





DOOOOOM! There might be hundreds of slabs. Thousands.




DOOOOOM! And a few of them are starting to crack.


Actions?!


Map Detail:

One square = 5 feet. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory. Asterisks and black dots by the room numbers don't represent anything.

Map:



Non-required Reading (rolls and rulings):


PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 18/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 22/22, Spells: 3/5 1st lvl and 2/4 2nd lvl
  Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 7/20, Laying Hands: 0/1, Deafened, -2 to Strength
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 23/30, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch at feet, -7 to Strength
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 14/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 22/34, Torch at feet, Deafened
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 2/11, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl, Torch at feet

PC Magic:

• Detect Magic: (Bo): Duration: 5 rounds.
  Entangle (Bo): Target: Center of skull chamber. Duration: 4 rounds. Vine-web creature is unaffected.
  Silence, 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 3 rounds.
  Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)
  Blasphemous Iconography (the story so far in images)
  Desperate Struggles (clues and player notes)

Shaking his head, before quickly realizing that Amity is being carried and isn’t actually floating, then gritting his teeth as he feels the poison seep into his skin “I thought they kept their poison reserves up front,“ he groans as he feels that familiar pain, though, as he has several times before in his line of work, he shakes it off and powers through. Save vs Poison! [1d20] = 11 Needed a 9 got a 13 (11+2) phew
Then after hearing the call of the gnome caster he adds his voice, “game over, time to get out of here!” Disappointed with finding nothing in the spider, he wipes his blade on the poison, hoping, and jumps off the spider carefully, heading out behind Urdur.

He has the girl, get out and help her. she must live to stop the horror

brevos yells at ingrid as he attacks the undead that has jerome

[1d20+1] = 11+1 = 12
[1d8+1] = 4+1 = 5

Urdur continues, heading out the way they came in. He is careful not to drop or otherwise hurt little Amity, while also moving as fast as he can to the exit.

Jerome
Jerome smiles a hard smile, seeing that Amity is being rescued. He hesitates a second, debating the chances of getting attacked from the rear VS gettting out. But only a second before he sprints to catch up with Amity and the others.

Deafened and surprised by Jerome's sudden retreat from the fight, Telkis is thrown sorely off his game. He swings Cranach wild, nearly lifting himself off his feet as the spiked head cuts the air in an upward arc.

Morningstar +1 (THAC0 17): To Hit:[1d20+1] = 6+1 = 7, Damage: vs s/m [2d4+1] = 6+1 = 7, vs L [1d6+2] = 2+2 = 4

"Aim where they're gonna be, not where they are," he chides himself, though no sound emanates from his lips.

He sees the others fleeing and feels, rather than hears a vibration that seems to permeate the floor. Uh oh, he thinks.

"No way it would be this easy to escape a place such as this," Bo thinks to himself as he tries to shake off the effect of being choke-slammed by the now downed monster.

Unwilling to leave his friends behind, and amazed that the others would simply abandon them to their fates, the vastly weakened grey druid retrieves his torch and moves around the others to attempt to apply it to the final monster trying to kill his comrades.

(I believe that is more than 10' and not in a straight line enough for a charge, but let me know if you require a roll anyway.)

Mouser starts to panic a little at the scale of the evil they may have unleashed. It’s time to go!

Ingrid Esthof

Seeing the Paladin flee combat, Ingrid decides that she shall not suffer the existence of the undead abominations. Stepping forward to the space Jerome vacated, the cleric brings her mace down with a sickening crunch on the creature's skull.

The Lichway, The Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil
The Dark Mountains, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Twenty. Long after midnight. Thursday, December 1st, 576 CY





DOOOOOM!



In the unholy shrine of unspeakable atrocities, cloaked in eerie silence, the heinous undead malefactor seizes Jerome by the throat and drains away his very life! (6hp damage and -6 more to Strength!) Wracked with bone-chilling cold and emptiness unimaginable, the paladin barely hangs on to consciousness!

Urdur flees for his life, and for the life of young Amity Mantle! But the weight of the child slows him down.

DOOOOOM!

All around the little gnome, from the countless arcane slabs that line the looming walls of the lichway, booms an ominous hammering!



Each slab bears an arcane inscription in the same blasphemous language as the stonegate. And each is starting to fracture!

DOOOOOM!

The rogues, Rudolf and Mouser, follow Urdur down the dread, towering corridor!

Jerome sees the child borne away, and the retreat begun. He tries to join the others seeking to withdraw from this nightmarish place while they still can! But there is no escape.



DOOOOOM!

The ghastly living skeleton tightens his deathly grip on Jerome's throat! The beleaguered paladin feels his life essence bleed out of him (5hp damage and -5 to Strength)! He shudders, lets out a silent scream and falls still!

The grey druid lifts his torch, now inconceivably heavy from his weakened state, and bravely staggers toward the last unliving horror! (X1)

Telkis selflessly attacks the despicable undead thing but his morningstar strikes only the floor!

Ingrid's mace, however, shatters its skull in one hammering blow, while Brevos' longsword Brood amputates the arm that holds aloft the lifeless form of Jerome!

The fiendish abomination falls, its bones splintering on the stone tiles as Jerome's body plunges to the floor!

DOOOOOM!

Then every wall slab cracks.







And then, they rupture and burst!




DOOOOOM!


Actions?!



Map Detail:

One square = 5 feet. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory. Asterisks and black dots by the room numbers don't represent anything.

Map:



Behind the DM Screen:


PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 18/31, Deafened
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 3/4: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 19/19, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl, 0/1 2nd lvl
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 22/22, Spells: 3/5 1st lvl and 2/4 2nd lvl, Deafened
  Jerome, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: -4/20, Laying Hands: 0/1, Deafened, -13 to Strength
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 23/30, Spells: 3/6 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl, Torch, Deafened, -7 to Strength
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 4: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 14/16
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 4: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 22/34, Torch at feet, Deafened
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 2/11, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl, Torch left behind

PC Magic:

• Detect Magic: (Bo): Duration: 4 rounds.
  Entangle (Bo): Target: Center of skull chamber. Duration: 3 rounds. Vine-web creature is unaffected.
  Silence, 15' Radius (Ingrid): Duration: 2 rounds.
  Invisibility (Urdur): Target: self

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)
  Blasphemous Iconography (the story so far in images)
  Desperate Struggles (clues and player notes)

Brevos throws jerome over his shoulder in a firemans carry and races after the others

Urdur continues running with Amity, heading for the exit.

Unwilling to be engulfed in broken shards of rock falling from the walls and ceiling, Bo decides not follow his doomed friends down the long hallway of certain death.

Instead, the weakened druid takes his torch and looks into the opening in the wall inside the altar room, hoping to find a back door escape from this horror.

Mouser follows the group - not wanting to be left alone with the screaming rocks.

Ingrid Esthof

Seeing the paladin fall, Ingrid whispers a plea to Holy Tritherion to heal the holy warrior, placing her hands upon him as her request is granted.

Knowing the girl, in whatever state she’s in, will soon be safe Rudolf continues to make like the legendary halfling speedster, Usain Bolt, and keeps pace with Urdur. He knows that saving Amity was important to the party and feels the Druid in particular will be proud they got her to safety. Wait, where are their long legged and longer talking companions? Ah well, no time to worry with the world crumbling down among them, time to get out of here and turn into a cursed, evil, talking wolf or something. ‘Six of one, half-dozen of the other,’ as his maw used to say.

Telkis watches Long Bo running for the opening and hesitates for a split second. He doesn't want to let his friend run off alone, yet saving Amity was the reason for the entire quest... and she was headed the other way. Bo's way might be an escape, but Telkis might be able to delay whatever was coming out of those walls long enough for the others to get out. And with luck, he might, maybe, get out himself.

Not fully believing this last thought, the gnome takes off heading northeast as fast as he can go. "Damn these stubby little legs!" he yells as he runs.

The horror continues in... Chapter 25: Hell Vomits Forth The Damned